The Cherry Blossom Tree
by mygaurdianangel45
Summary: A one shot of Avatar Wan and his romance with his first love before being banished from his Lion Turtle city. Her story of loving the first Avatar and being denied the happiness they found in each other. read and review!


This is just something I thought of, why not give the first Avatar a love story along with his already amazing story. I do not own Legend of Korra!

It was two years before Wan had been banished, we would meet under the cherry blossom tree far away from my home. My name is Hitomi, my mother named me for my apparent beauty, I was never quick to believe it myself. That is until I met Wan, he made me see the blessings in my life. My long dark hair, my green eyes, my small frame; it was because of him that I thought of myself as beautiful. When I was a child I was quiet and skittish, my parents taught me not to speak unless spoken too. I was never to give an opinion and never to speak my mind around my father. I was blessed we had enough to eat and my father worked very hard to give us a good life. When I met Wan I was walking with my caretaker in the center part of the city when my necklace fell off of my neck. I hadn't noticed, until someone tapped me on the shoulder, when I turned it was Wan holding my necklace with a big smile on his face.

"You dropped this." Wan said holding it up for me to see.

"Oh, thank you." I whispered, I thought he would just hand it back to me but he went behind me and locked it back into its place. After that he gave me a nod and walked back to his friend Jaya. I had never been able to forget that moment, we were never able to speak in public but when I did see him we exchanged warm smiles and would sneak away to talk.

When we were teenagers I went for a walk though a garden on the other side of the Lion Turtle and found a cherry blossom tree and Wan sitting under it. I sat with him and that is where we began meeting every night. Simply talking and becoming close, a week later he began to tell me how much he hated the Chou family. I had only ever heard good things about them from my father and didn't know so many people were starving, when I found out the truth I hated them as much as Wan. My father supported the Chou's while they let their people starve to death, I felt so ashamed.

"Wan if I would have known, my father keeps me in the dark, I'm so sorry." I couldn't look at him I felt so awful.

"Hitomi it's how the world is...for now." Wan and I were standing and he lifted my chin to look at him.

"For now?" I asked confused.

"Someday I'll be as rich as the Chou's, but I won't keep it all to myself." Wan had dropped his hands from my face and he turned away to look at the sunset.

"Wan money doesn't bring happiness it..." I began but Wan had turned back to me and his eyes fixed so intently on mine I lost my train of thought.

"No, but having wealth would bring me something that gives me happiness." Wan took my hand and pulled me into his arms. After a few moments he pushed me back some to move the hair from my face, then he slowly let me go. I went back to my home, ashamed again that Wan lived in a tree while I lived in a home far too big for my small family.

We continued meeting under that tree, but we didn't talk of money anymore. We imagined what the spirit wilds were like, we talked about out city, and one day he came back and told me he had stolen from the Chou family.

"Wan why would you do that? You could have been killed!" I was so upset but he was inspired.

"I'm making a change Hitomi, I refuse to eat the scraps of the rich for any longer!" Wan hissed, he was angry with them but he was angry with me too. He left me under the tree and after sometime I went back home, where I faced another battle; my father.

"So it's settled Hitomi will be married at once! Honorable master Chou I know she will be a perfect wife for your eldest son." I heard my father from the sitting room when I went near my mother rose and brought me inside.

"Darling your father has some wonderful news." She was so happy, he daughter being given to the richest man in the city.

"Hitomi you will marry the eldest Chou son, he has been taken by your beauty and has requested none but you." My father was elated but I just stood there silent. "Speak child and show your appreciation!"

"Thank you mother and father, and master Chou. I hope this union brings you honor and prosperity and I thank you for your generous compliments." I recited politely, my father dismissed me to my room where I lay on my bed thinking only of Wan.

The next day I saw Wan in the city center and tried to get his attention but he was talking to the hunters about the spirit wilds. Later that day I watched as they left the city and received the gift of fire from the Lion Turtle. I left when I couldn't see them any longer and went to sit under our tree until he returned, which was much sooner then I thought. It was dusk and he had Jaya behind him, but when he noticed me he sent Jaya away. When he was close I hugged him tightly too me, he took much longer then usually to return my embrace but he eventually did.

"I saw you go into the wilds today I was worried about you." I breathed while pulling away from him to look at his face, he seemed to be emotionless.

"I did but I came back, I'm taking my life back into my own hands." Wan stated and confused me once again.

"What are you planning Wan?" I asked keeping ahold of his hands.

"I have the power of fire, I am attacking the Chou's tonight and taking what belongs to my people. I'm taking the food they hide away from us." Wan revealed to me coldly.

"Wan you stole the fire!? What if they catch you? They will throw you into the spirit wilds!" I was crying I gripped his hands tightly refusing to let go.

"Hitomi you have to let me do this, I'm doing it for people starving in the streets." Wan was disgusted with me again, appalled by my family's money. He took his hands back and started to walk away.

"Wan!" I cried and grabbed his arm forcing him to stay, "my father is making me marry him...I have to marry the oldest Chou brother."

"Then you will never have to want for anything, you will have happiness." Wan whispered.

"I will always want for you who brings me true happiness." I confessed.

He turned back to me and took my face in his hands and kissed me. I held him and kissed him back wishing we would have been born somewhere else. Some place where we could be together always and never have to hide, I wanted our cherry blossom tree to be our own world where I could stay with him forever. When he pulled away from the kiss he looked down at me sadly, I kissed him on the cheek and he touched my necklace.

"Take everything you can from the Chou's and try not to get caught, do everything you can to protect those people." I stuttered with tears streaming down my face.

"I will, Hitomi...I wish you happiness." Wan said and dried the tears from my cheeks.

"Perhaps someday I will find it." I held his hand to my heart and we slowly let go of one another and went our separate ways.

The next morning I woke to my father yelling and went to see my mother. She told me that a group of traitors had broken into the Chou's property and stole from them and that a peasant had taken the fall for them all and broke the law by bringing fire into the city. He was to be banished at once.

I could feel my heart pounding, I sat near the city's edge like I did when Wan first went into the spirit wilds and watched as he met with the Lion Turtle and was finally banished.

I was married to the eldest Chou brother two days later. I was walking through the courtyard and heard the hunters talking with master Chou, they were talking about Wan and how he was thriving with fire bending and protecting the spirits who he lived with. I ran away to my balcony, I couldn't leave the Chou property unless I had someone with me at all times. And when we did leave I wasn't left alone. But my balcony to my room looked over my cherry blossom tree, and I knew Wan was safe. Not just safe but powerful and living with spirits, he made it. All I could feel was joy and he was right, he was making a change. Others were starting to follow his lead which worried the Chou's, not being able to speak gave me a lot of time to listen. Someday I would escape from this world and find the happiness I once had with Wan.

Many years passed, we heard rumors of a man who was controlling all four elements and I knew it was Wan. That meant there were other Lion Turtles, other city's that I could make a new life in. I could get away from the Chou's once and for all.

I was on my balcony once again, these ideas running though my mind and I went though my mental checklist of things I would need; food, water, money. All things I would steal from my husband's family. I would take my daughter and give her a new life, and never force her to marry someone she didn't love. I was planning this all in my mind and I never heard my husband come up behind me until he started speaking in my ear.

"You have it all planned out don't you? You think you'll leave this place and find that filthy peasant. You think you'll have a new life, but you can never escape me. If you leave I won't hesitate to kill our daughter, I will hunt you down and kill that worthless peasant even if he has the other elements he can't use them. So I would think very carefully about what you do, I always have people watching."

I couldn't breath, the only thing he did was convince me to leave. My hatred ran so deep that as he walked away I turned on my heel and slammed the door to my private room shut. By nightfall I had my supply's, my daughter, and my maids covering for me. I would get away, far away before they even knew I was gone. I went to my balcony and tied a rope to the building and made my way down the ten foot drop slowly, I couldn't be more happy Emi (my daughter) was fast asleep on my back. She wouldn't wake up now which meant she wouldn't be asking me questions and waking everyone else up. I had planned my escape for months and I had the weak spot in the courtyard wall hidden from everyone else, I was able to slide under the hole on my stomach and cover it back up. I was only about a mile from my cherry blossom tree and from there to the entrance of our city was another two miles. I walked with my hood over my head and I stayed in the shadows, when I finally reached the gate to our Lion Turtle city I smiled and hopped down. I woke the Lion Turtle and explained my situation and my need for the power of fire even though I was a woman.

"My dear, the power of the elements are not reserved for only men, I will grant you the power of fire." I was relieved and accepted the fire and went on my way into the spirit wilds.

It took a long time, longer then I hoped and it was much harder than I thought it would have been. Emi was terrified by the spirits at first but eventually grew to love some of them. And finally we made it to a different Lion Turtle, it was floating in the air. There was no way too it but to have one of the air people I had seen to take me. They did and Emi and I were able to stay there, they had even remembered Wan, but it had been a very long time. It was safe, and they welcomed us with open arms. There was a change in the world, the spirits started leaving us and we heard more rumors of Wan locking away the dark spirit and becoming one with the light spirit. I was growing old, Emi had fallen in love with a young man who lived near our hut. One day we heard that a large group of men were heading towards our home, forcing their way into our city. They were looking for two women and I figured it was the Chou's making good on their promise to come find me, even years later.

I was older though, I no longer looked like the beautiful girl of my past. I was weak, my hair gray and I didn't think he would remember me. Emi on the other hand was a problem, she looked so much like I had when I was married to my husband. I had her hide in a cave far away from the others, her fiancé stayed with me and pretended to be my son. When the Chou brothers came they turned the huts upside down looking for us but didn't find our daughter and hadn't recognized me, so they left.

Even though Wan hadn't come to find me I had found happiness in watching my daughter thrive and fall in love without the strife I went through myself. I kept my power of fire and when my grandchildren were born their son could control the air like his father, but their daughter could control fire like me.

I knew Wan was still out there, fighting for peace and equality like he did in our city. When my time was nearing an end I told my daughter to keep her eyes out, I had a feeling Wan would come back, and while he wasn't going to be the same he was still striving for peace between all people.


End file.
